Assitance Learning Animation

I have an animated map project that I need to consult with someone about and hoped I could find the help I need here or be directed to someone who can help me. I am a beginner. I have been watching tutorial videos in Animate and After Effects, and have become convinced that I need assistance to focus on the animation commands I need rather than wading through a lot of commands I will never use.

The map animation is not a game but a simulation of an historical battle. The hoped for result is a video, viewed looking down on the map (file obtained from the Library of Congress), of military units, scaled to the map, moving over the map in real time, to show the entire scope of the battle that took place over the course of 12 hours. The video would hopefully be able to be adjusted to speed up the time, able to focus on particular areas of the site, able to have embedded narration, and able to have embedded written comments, likely in the form of speech bubbles used in cartoon books.

The basic object to be animated is a colored rectangle, 50'-0" long and 3'-6" deep. It needs to move forward and backward, forward diagonally to each side, rotate forward pivoting on either of the front corners as well as backward pivoting on either of the back corners. It also need to be able to wheel as it moves forward along an arch defined by either end or by the center. It also needs to move parallel to the long axis in either direction in a straight line or following a road on the map, able to turn at an intersection and flow around the corner.

The basic object (a company) also needs to be able operate with 9 other objects (making up a regiment), either as a unit (a long object made up of these ten basic units tied together) or by the individual units articulating together to form a column (10 units stacked up one behind the other) and other similar articulations, and then deploy back into a long line.

These different articulations of 10 units acting together need to be in the form of various preset commands, comprising all the commands needed to make each different articulation happen from beginning to end.

Each basic unit needs to be animated in some way to show it being unstable and subject to panic. Each basic unit also needs to be animated in some way to break apart into fragments which either remain as fragments or can also reform, in whole or in part, back together into the basic object.

That forms the basis of my animation needs. I need assistance which could be just pointing me the proper tutorials that meet my needs, it could be developing training program, or it could be on-line Zoom type recorded hands-on training.

I am willing to pay for this assistance.

Thank you for your consideration.

Scott Parish
Mariposa, California